Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - Current race halted

In the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, owing to the failure of three of the forestay bottles crews in the fleet of twelve Clipper 70s, the fleet has been instructed to stop racing as a precaution and make its way to Hong Kong.

'There is clearly a fault with this part of the rigging and we are not prepared to take any risks with the remaining boats so far unaffected,' explained Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, founder and chairman of race organisers Clipper Ventures. 'In Hong Kong the forestay bottles crews will be replaced with a system we have just had approved by the MCA surveyor.'

Hong Kong is 770 miles from the leading yachts present position and the best estimate of arrival is Saturday 1 March. The boats will be turned round as speedily as possible and then will start racing together to Qingdao.

The options for the Hong Kong to Qingdao leg are being assessed at present and further information will be forthcoming, but it appears unlikely that the Qingdao schedule will be affected very much, if at all, because of the availability of more direct routing options.

The forestay supports the mast and is also what the Yankee headsail is attached to. A few days ago Jamaica Get All Right suffered the first failure and diverted to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia; Last night PSP Logistics experienced the second failure, followed a few hours later by Derry~Londonderry~Doire.

The crews on board all the vessels are fine and well and conditions safe as a spare Yankee halyard is being used as a temporary forestay to stabilize the rig.

All of the boats will now make their way to Hong Kong. No points will be awarded and Race 9 will start afresh from Hong Kong to Qingdao. The yachts that have retired will therefore not be penalized and will rejoin the race from Hong Kong.